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Archive for the ‘cybercrime/malcode’ category: Page 123

May 24, 2021

IRS Wants Tools for Cracking Crypto Wallets

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

The agency’s Digital Forensics Unit wants to “tame the cybersecurity research into measured, repeatable, consistent digital forensics processes.”

May 23, 2021

Super-Secure Processor Thwarts Hackers

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

We have developed and tested a secure new computer processor that thwarts hackers by randomly changing its underlying structure, thus making it virtually impossible to hack.

Last summer, 525 security researchers spent three months trying to hack our Morpheus processor as well as others. All attempts against Morpheus failed.

This study was part of a program sponsored by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Program Agency to design a secure processor that could protect vulnerable software. DARPA released the results on the program to the public for the first time in January 2021.

May 21, 2021

New Model Helps Predict Cyber Threats and Improve Resilience

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

Network defenders face the constant challenge of effectively preventing, detecting, and responding to cyber incidents.

Our new Scalable Warning and Resilience Model (SWARM) can help enable defenders to proactively protect their systems.


Today’s evolving cyber threats require a tailored and targeted approach to cybersecurity. Current defenses focus on managing threats after a network has been breached. RAND’s Scalable Warning and Resilience Model (SWARM) can help defenders proactively protect their systems through early warning of cyber incidents before they occur.

May 20, 2021

U.S. has almost 500,000 job openings in cybersecurity

Posted by in categories: business, cybercrime/malcode, government

The need for more web watchmen spans from private businesses to government agencies, experts say, and most of the job openings are in California, Florida, Texas and Virginia. That means for anyone looking to switch careers and considering a job in cybersecurity, there’s no greater time than now to find work, the job trackers said.

“You don’t have to be a graduate of MIT to work in cybersecurity,” said Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research at CompTIA. “It just requires someone who has the proper training, proper certification and is certainly committed to the work.”

May 19, 2021

Ethical hacking group worms its way into Fermilab

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, education

A group of “ethical hackers” has obtained access to sensitive systems and proprietary online data hosted by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the US after accessing multiple unsecured entry points in late April and early May. The group – Sakura Samuraidiscovered configuration data for the lab’s NoVa experiment and more than 4500 “tickets” for tracking internal projects.

The Sakura Samurai team has previous experience probing the vulnerabilities of scientific and educational organizations, which hold critical information that if leaked could put those institutions at risk. “Fermilab was no different,” Sakura Samurai leader Robert Willis told Physics World. “Oversharing can be very dangerous, especially when it’s sharing credentials that could enable a malicious actor to take over a server with the potential to move across their network to access items that the organization wouldn’t even think of being vulnerable.”

May 19, 2021

Splunk to buy security intelligence-sharing startup TruStar

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, robotics/AI

Splunk today announced it plans to acquire security software company TruStar for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition will add TruStar’s cloud-native, cyber intelligence-sharing capabilities and automated processes to Splunk’s growing cybersecurity portfolio.

“TruStar will help us get even better at predictive threat assessments by strengthening our threat intelligence framework. This acquisition will allow customers to autonomously and seamlessly enrich their (security operation center) workflows with threat intelligence data feeds from heterogeneous sources,” Splunk president and CEO Doug Merritt told VentureBeat in an exclusive interview.

The pending deal is in line with Splunk’s philosophy that “security is a data problem,” he said. The announcement marks a return to M&A activity for Splunk and the massive $1.05 billion deal for SignalFX in 2019. The company also made four cloud-related acquisitions in 2020.

May 17, 2021

Ransomware’s Dangerous New Trick Is Double-Encrypting Your Data

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

Even when you pay for a decryption key, your files may still be locked up by another strain of malware.

May 17, 2021

Windows 10 has a built-in ransomware block, you just need to enable it

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cybercrime/malcode

Not the usual medical or science, but it may help someone.


Windows 10 comes with its own baked-in antivirus solution called Windows Defender, and it is enabled by default when setting up a new PC. At the very least, that affords you some basic protection against the many malware threats out in the wild. But did you know there is an added optional layer that can keep your pictures, videos, work documents, and other files safe in the event of a ransomware infection? The caveat is that you have to manually enable ransomware protection in Windows 10.

Continue reading “Windows 10 has a built-in ransomware block, you just need to enable it” »

May 9, 2021

The Colonial Pipeline Hack Is a New Extreme for Ransomware

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, energy

An attack has crippled the company’s operations—and cut off a large portion of the East Coast’s fuel supply—in an ominous development for critical infrastructure.

May 8, 2021

Cyber attack shuts down top U.S. fuel pipeline network

Posted by in categories: cybercrime/malcode, energy

Top U.S. fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline has shut its entire network, the source of nearly half of the U.S. East Coast’s fuel supply, after a cyber attack that the company said was caused by ransomware.

The shutdown has raised fears of a price spike at the gas pumps ahead of peak demand summer driving season if it persists, and has drawn attention to how critical U.S. energy infrastructure is vulnerable to hackers.

Colonial transports 2.5 million barrels per day of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other refined products through 5500 miles (8850 km) of pipelines linking refiners on the Gulf Coast to the eastern and southern United States.